June 02, 2012

Being a Great Listener - Step 2

I have come to realize that being a good listener...let alone a great one takes work. In these days of endless noise and chatter I am sharing with you my steps for being a great listener. If you are taking the time to listen...why not do it well and get something out of what is being said? :)

In that spirit...here is Step 2 Focus. Pay attention. Quiet the chatter in your head.

Yikes! That does take some work. It helps to focus if you are actually looking at the person who is speaking. Think about it. It makes sense. If you are in a conversation with someone during a meal and you are chasing the last french fry around your plate...are you focused?

So look at them. Put down your fork and focus.

If you find your mind starting to wander...gently bring it back. You don't want to give yourself whiplash for goodness sakes...but you need to keep your attention on the speaker.

If you find that your mind is hopping from one thing to another while you are trying to lisen to someone sometimes doing a "mind dump" can be helpful. Take out a piece of paper and write down everything that you are thinking about. Sometimes just writing it down can get it out of your head. That's a start to have some quiet space so you can really focus and listen.

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Having instantly reogeniscd myself as one of those '1 or 2 other people' mentioned above — although there might well be more of us than you think — what can I do other than shout hooray!' at the appearance of The Last Press? This makes my day. More, please!

Sjoera Snijder-Sahuleka, Netherlands - I remember exalcty where I was that day! I just arrived with DH in Miland to visit some friends. I was trying to wake up from my nap when DH came storming in telling me what was going on in NY. Although NY is far away from the Netherlands I cried with you, cried when I saw plane 2 crash in the second tower, cried the towers went down right after eachother. And cried those days after